Tag: Skin

Melanin is Amazing but I Need Sunscreen?

Published on by Lee6 Comments

In the black community it’s a common misconception that our melanin infused skin completely eliminates the need for sunscreen as protection. Yes, our melanin does protect from some UV rays, but we actually do need to wear sunscreen too.

Skin cancer and aging lines don’t discriminate. Every skin tone on earth is at risk of being dried out, aged and burnt by the sun. It’s not too late to properly take care of your melanin.

Let’s take a moment to explore the reasons why sunscreen is a must, even for darker tones.

Cancer

This alone is good enough reason to buy sunscreen for your melanin. Skin cancer effects both light skin tones and dark. Your natural skin protectant blocks UV light up to SPF 13. This isn’t as strong as the sunscreen (SPF 30 is recommended) which is created for skin protection.

That means cancer can and will develop in your skin, if not properly protected. Studies also show that we are more likely to die from skin cancer than those with lighter skin. Melanated people are simply more likely to die from skin cancer because we aren’t looking for the signs and don’t take the necessary precautions to prevent skin cancers.

While people with dark skin have more melanin, which helps to protect their skin from UV rays, they are still at risk for developing different types of skin cancer, including melanomas. UV rays also contribute to photoaging, and regular use of sunscreen can help prevent the formation of wrinkles, dark spots, and sagging leathery skin.

You can find important information on skin cancer and melanin on Health Care’s website.

Aging and Dark Spots

One of the benefits of dark skin is the ability to look as if you haven’t aged a day. You want to keep these good looks, right? Don’t let the sun dry out your skin creating fine lines and wrinkles. It’s simply not worth it when you can purchase sunscreen designed specifically for your needs.

Sunlight also creates uneven skin tones and dark spots which can be totally avoided with a little sun screen. Aging spots and lines aren’t the only thing to worry about. Your skin will lose tone, and volume.

Sagging skin will become a reality if sunscreen isn’t used while you’re in the sun. This is especially true for those who live in areas like Texas, Florida and other places where the sun always shines.

Unwanted Burns

If you’ve never experienced a sunburn lucky you. It’s the worst feeling and seeing your skin peel right before your eyes is pretty weird. Sunburns can happen on all skin tones. Sure, you won’t burn as quickly as those with fair skin, but you can still develop burns.

Take the extra precaution of choosing the right sunscreen designed for your skin type. It doesn’t hurt to take these measures. In the long run your skin will truly thank you.

While you’re in the sun your skin will become darker, everyone knows this but do you know why? The tanning effect isn’t really a tan it’s a sign of skin damage from the sun. Your body produces more melanin in effort to protect that previous outer layer of skin.

Your melanin is amazing. It performs super hero like duties but unfortunately it cannot completely protect you from harmful UV rays. Take the time to research skin cancer in African Americans and purchase sunscreen. Your body will thank you.

Knowing the ingredients and the resulting properties isn’t on every shoppers mind, but the undesirable outcomes are. The majority of shoppers look for a product that isn’t greasy or that doesn’t leave a noticeable residue on the skin. A good deal of people also look for a product that is in line with their own ethics. I, for one, look for Vegan/ cruelty free products that also hydrate the skin. I normally just stick with Aveeno PROTECT + HYDRATE Lotion but today… well read on to see why Bolden SPF 30 Brightening Moisturizer got me singing ♪♪♪. (Click here to continue)

Pages: 1 2

BEAUTY Glow Recipe Has Juicy News

Published on by Lee2 Comments

THE BRAND IS RELEASING THE PERFECT PRODUCT JUST IN TIME FOR VALENTINE’S DAY.

Popular clean skincare brand, Glow Recipe has just dropped their newest watermelon-inspired beauty product: Watermelon Glow Lip Pop. The new lip product is a hybrid 3-in-1 lip balm, scrub, and tint; that is intended to smooth and hydrate the lips, with a versatile pink tint. The product is half makeup, half skincare, and everything your current lip balm isn’t.

Fruit is the muse for this fun brand, but not in a juvenile Lip Smacker sort of way. Glow Recipe is proving to the beauty industry that fruity flavors and colors can indeed be chic by focusing on the produce’s many skin-benefitting properties. Its moisturizers, masks, and mists are inspired by power ingredients like blueberry, banana, pineapple, and avocado.

The balm is designed to help with uneven texture and dryness on the lips. It is formulated with watermelon seed oil, watermelon extract, coconut oil, coconut flower sugar (hence the exfoliation) , and AHA extracts derived from hibiscus, wild pansy, and hawthorn. The formulation of the lip product has an exfoliating sugar texture, that melts upon application. The balm is also designed to react with the pH of the lips, and give off a customized pink lip tint. The lip balm is infused with Coconut oil and jojoba esters that deliver long-lasting moisture (because unlike the rest of the skin on your face, your lips don’t have oil glands, which makes them extra-prone to chapping).

The scrub-slash-balm leaves you with a glossy, light-pink pout. It can be used on its own or as a primer for richer lip color. The Watermelon Glow Lip Pop is Glow Recipe’s first-ever lip product. It’s joined in the fruit basket by a watermelon sleep mask, a moisturizer, and a mist. The lip balm is vegan, cruelty-free, and ‘Clean at Sephora’ (formulated without blacklist of 50 harmful ingredients). The balm is also free of parabens, mineral oil, sulfates, phthalates, and drying alcohol. Who knew that a summer melon could be so useful for curing winter chapped lips?

The 3-in-1 lip hybrid comes in a twist-up stick form package. It is priced at $22.

You can now view and shop the new Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Lip Pop at GlowRecipe.com and Sephora.com.

Watermelon Glow Lip Pop

$22 |GLOW RECIPE

SEE ON GLOW RECIPE

Boscia Chia Seed Moisture Cream

Published on by Lee3 Comments

Th season of gel texture moisturizers, quick-absorbing serums, and refreshing facial mists is gradually coming to an end, and you’ll soon need to swap in richer, more heavy-duty hydrators as temperatures start to dip and the air dries up. Kick off the skin care shelf transition with Boscia’s new Chia Seed Moisture Cream, which provides intense, long-lasting moisture to dehydrated skin — and uses one of your favorite superfoods to do it.

According to Dr. Kolansky, your skin is drier in the winter because the cold weather causes your blood vessels to constrict, resulting in less blood flow to your skin’s surface. And the changes in temperature between your warm home or office and the bitter outdoors causes an additional loss of moisture. When the weather outside is frightful, I bulk up my regimen with more hydrating ingredients like:

  • Ceramides
  • Fatty acids
  • Hyaluronic acid or sodium hyaluronate
  • Selected skincare oils
  • Shea butter

With the cold weather, comes skincare companies releasing more hydrating products and thicker creams. One such product is the Chia Seed Moisture Cream from Boscia. According to the company’s website, “since 2002, plants have been the secret to our skincare success. We use ingredients rooted in nature—plant-to-bottle formulas that show results with fun formulas. Good skin comes naturally because, in our world, beauty really does grow on trees.” And the Clean Beauty Chia Seed Moisture Cream is “a super-rich cream that provides an instant restoration of deep hydration to dry skin while nurturing and locking in moisture for soft and supple skin.”

Is it worth adding to your winter routine? Let’s take a look:

What Can Chia Seeds Do For Your Skin?

Chia seeds are a superfood for the body, but do those superpowers benefit your skin at all? Kind of… Chia seeds are a natural source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory fatty acids naturally found within the skin. Omega-3 fatty acids are documented to be substantially lower in those with dry/very dry skin types than those with normal to oily skin types, though omega-3 supplementation (whether oral or topical) can help this, returning skin to a more youthful, supple state. The topical chia seed oil has also been documented in the journal Annals of Dermatology to relieve severe symptoms of pruritus or skin itching.

The itty bitty seed in pressed oil form is clinically proven to increase skin hydration by reducing moisture loss, aka it locks in all of those skin-plumping omega fatty acids for healthy, glowy skin that lasts. Mineral-dense Swiss Glacier Water joins in to help moisture soak in deeply, protect skin, and improve smoothness, while elderberry extract brings a major dose of vitamins A, B6, C, and E to promote brightness and defend your complexion against stress and environmental pollutants. Long story short, it’s the naturally effective moisturizing cocktail your complexion never knew it needed.

So is chia seed oil going to remove your fine lines and wrinkles? Fix hyperpigmentation? Encourage collagen production? Probably not. However, if you suffer from dry to very dry skin, the chia seed oil is likely to temporarily plump up your skin, reducing the appearance of fine lines somewhat.

So the Chia Seed Moisture Cream can be great for temporary hydration (perhaps under makeup in the morning) but the long term benefits aren’t quite there.

Glacier Water; Marketing Gimmick or Effective Ingredients?

One of the ingredients that popped out at me when I first saw this product on Sephora’s website was “Glacier Water.” What does that mean, and does it have any benefit at all or is it simply a gimmicky marketing thing?

After doing some digging, I found that companies use “glacier water” as a hydrator in their products. Glacier water starts as rainfall, snow, and ice residing on, you guessed it, a glacier! As it trickles down it is filtered through the mountains’ porous, volcanic rock, also known as “tuff,” and collects trace minerals before running underground to pick up volcanic minerals from lava rock. And after all of that, it then emerges via ancient lava fields and thermal baths.

According to Tom Vichorski, a chemist who works with Skyn Iceland, this process results in water that is purified naturally. “Think of your standard carbon water filter,” he says, “now think of that filter extending miles beneath the Earth’s surface — that’s why the water is so pure.” So, I’m just going to be honest here… trace amounts of minerals in purified water are not going to do anything life-changing to your skin. There is no peer-reviewed published research that says “glacier water” will result in better skin. But it does make for fun and fancy marketing.

Personal Use and Opinion

The product is housed in a bulky, matte pink jar. For a product that’s selling point is its use of antioxidants, jar packaging isn’t the best as these ingredients aren’t known for being very stable. It’s also not the most hygienic thing in the world to constantly be dipping your fingers into your product and exposing it to the bacteria in the air, however, Boscia includes a funky looking scooper with the product which helps to mitigate this somewhat.

The cream itself is very thick, and a little bit goes a long way. I think that for those with oily skin this would be too heavy, but if you are on the drier side this would be great! I used this nightly for a few weeks and didn’t notice any irritation or adverse effects. Overall it was a solid product, but not sure there are any real long-term benefits outside of hydration.

Bottom Line

While “glacier water” is pretty gimmicky, the Chia Seed Moisture Cream from Boscia is a solid night cream. It’s thick and hydrating and I would recommend it for those who have dry skin.

Disclaimer:

The purpose of this blog is for skin, makeup, and beauty care-related reviews and tips only. It is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice. Information posted should not be construed as personal medical advice. Posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure disease.

Chia Seed Moisture Cream

$38 |BOSCIA

The super hero of this incredibly rich moisture cream, chia seed oil, instantly and deeply moisturizes for a healthy and revitalized complexion

SEE ON BOSCIA

This Quick & Easy DIY Mask Will Give You An Instant Glow!

Published on by Lee1 Comment

I’m obsessed with DIYs and always have been since I was a teenager. This papaya and honey DIY mask is one of my all-time faves as it brightens, hydrates, improves tone and texture, and most importantly leaves your skin glowy AF. It’s also great for acne-prone skin as it can help reduce inflammation and fight acne-bacteria, which is perfect for me right now as my skin broke out recently and I needed something to bring it back to life. Plus, this mask takes less than five minutes to make!

Why this Papaya & Honey DIY Mask is the BOMB!

Papaya is the hero ingredient in this mask, and papaya contains the enzyme papain, which gently buffs away dead skin that can cause your skin to look dull and block your pores. It also helps hydrate and brighten the skin as papaya is a plentiful source of potassium, while it’s also rich in antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene, which help fight against aging free radicals. It’ll also work to improve the overall tone and texture of your skin… Like we said, hero!

Benefits of Papaya for Skin

Papaya contains anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, exfoliating and skin lightening & whitening properties that protect the skin from damage. Here are the benefits of papaya for skin listed down:

♡ Whitens skin due to its natural bleaching properties ♡ Fades away acne scars, blemishes & dark spots

♡ Firms, tones & tightens skin ♡ Shrinks large pores

♡ Prevents & heals acne ♡ Exfoliates skin due to its natural chemicals that dissolve & break down dead cells

♡ Soothes acne and skin inflammation ♡ Slows fine lines & wrinkles

Posts You’ll Love:

Onto the next miracle ingredient: Honey! I always use honey in my DIYs as it has so many amazing properties. It’s a natural humectant, so it draws in moisture to hydrate the skin. It also has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, so it can help to reduce redness and swelling and fight bacteria. It’s important to use raw honey, as it’s unprocessed and retains all its natural goodness – processed honey is often boiled, which means many of the natural benefits are destroyed.

Benefits of Honey for Skin

Honey is a natural humectant which means it draws moisture from the surroundings and helps plump up dry skin. It is rich in powerful anti-oxidants that will stave off pro-aging free radicals. Honey is antiseptic and will treat acne and prevent more acne. Check out more benefits of honey for skin:

♡ Deep cleanses skin ♡ Fights free radicals ♡ Promotes youthful skin

♡ Shrinks large pores ♡ Hydrates & moisturizes skin ♡ Lightens acne scars, blemishes & dark marks

Ingredients

2 or 3 slices of papaya
1 tablespoon of raw honey

Chop ¼ a small papaya into 3 little pieces. Place them into a bowl and add ½ teaspoon of honey. Blend the papaya until it creates a smooth mixture, then add the honey in a bowl and mix well. Apply the mask onto cleansed skin and leave it on for 10 minutes. Wash with warm water and follow with your fave moisture.

How to Apply the Papaya and Honey Face Mask

+ Start with a clean dry face. Using your fingers/ a face mask brush, apply the papaya and honey face mask mixture onto your face. Avoid the eye and mouth areas as skin here is thin and when stretched by the mask, can create fine lines.

+ Wait for the face mask to sink in and dry up for about 10 minutes.

+ When the time is up, rinse thoroughly with tepid water.

+ Pat dry with a clean towel and moisturize.

Finally, remember to always be careful when you’re doing treatments on your skin. If you have sensitive skin, we always recommend doing a patch test first to be extra safe.

For more bomb DIYs, check out our fave DIY mask.